Bleazard anticipates another close derby

Yeovil Town look to inflict a first defeat of the league season on their local rivals Bristol City.

Midfielder Helen Bleazard is expecting a tight affair in the West Country derby as her Yeovil Town take on Bristol City for the third time this season.

The Glovers beat their nearest FA Women’s Super League 2 neighbours 3-2 on penalties after a goalless SSE Women’s FA Cup fourth round match in February but suffered a 3-2 defeat in their league season opener.

And Bleazard is expecting another edgy game for her side who, if they win, can go level on points with Bristol City at the top of the league.

“It is a massive game for us and it’s always going to be against them,” she said.

“In the FA Cup it was a tight match and we got through on penalties, then in the league we were disappointed with the result.

“But we had some big positives from that game because when we did play we showed what we can do against them.

“We need to have that belief in ourselves. We are always going to be the underdog against them, but for us it is about focusing on our game rather than them.

“If we put into action what we work on in training then it is ours to lose, it is up to us to play our game and dictate the tone of the game.”

Bristol City are looking to protect their unbeaten start to the WSL 2 season which sees them sit top of the table with four wins and a draw.

The Vixens have not conceded a goal in any of their four games since the 3-2 victory over Yeovil, a record defender Grace McCatty is keen to maintain.

“As a defender four clean sheets so far is very pleasing,” she said.

“It would be nice to chip in with a few goals, but our job is to stop them. What has helped is that myself and Hayley Ladd have played together before.

“It’s been important to get off to that good start, because it’s very easy to leak goals in WSL 1 or WSL 2. We haven’t done that.

“We’ve got to be wary of Yeovil. It would be naïve to think it will be easy.

“We were 3-0 up last time we played them, but they got two goals back and in the last 10 minutes it could have gone either way.

“We know how good they can be in attack, so we need to concentrate for the full 90 minutes.”